Of Panic and Piano Pieces
by Capt.JackSparrow13
Summary: Ok! First real CB narrative fanfiction in Victor's POV...a little short story on what happened when Victor was supposed to pass his piano decree in favour of his so persistant mother... Please Review!


_**Author's Note: **_

_Now that it's done I feel it extremely hard to believe that I actually spent my whole weekend pondering furiously about what to write for my first English Language Short Story. I had decided to do a Corpse Bride fan-fiction (it, Nb4C and Vincent, all work of genius Tim Burton, being my greatest passion in life) but changed the plot around about 4 times in my desperate writer's block, chastising myself all the way and cursing my tiring enthusiasm. But thankfully, after getting a few frantic ideas together and playing piano whilst moulding them in my mind, peacefully for a change, I developed this brilliant story. The first few paragraphs were torture, but after those I could not stop…they just came flowing out, beyond the word limit. But, as we all know, creativity has no limits. And as I was done, I was literally singing and twirling around in joy!_

_This one is my first ever REAL fan fiction in narrative, since I otherwise preferred writing in script form but since I have tried it out I have fallen in love with this kind of writing. This school piece has become my proudest yet and I am glad to have accomplished it. It will become a cherished piece of my private Tim Burton collection. Hail Tim Burton!_

_This story I dedicate to my best friend, Ashley Sahler in Georgia, (otherwise known as Emily or Sally) with whom I can talk to about everything and my favourite teacher, Mr. Sloan of the Emirates International School, who has given me so much support and confidence with my writing which had led up to this piece! Thank you!_

_Yours Sincerely,_

_VictorVanDort11_

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the original Corpse Bride characters….but I wish I had been part of it…_

"_Victor!" _

_Nell's dominant voice intruded the silence of the room brutally and rung unpleasantly in Victor's ears. _

"_Victor! Hurry up or we'll be late!"_

_Wrenching his eyes away from the notes he had been staring at so intensely, Victor stood up from the edge of his bed. There was no going back now. Folding the paper shakily, he placed it back into his pocket and cast one last, nervous glace around his room, wishing more than anything that he could just stay where he was. "I don't want this…" he thought. "I'll mess it all up anyway, as always." It wasn't the fact that he couldn't play piano, he could and he knew that very well, but this wasn't a matter of talent. It was a matter of nerves. _

"_Victor Van Dort!"_

_Jumping slightly out of his troubled thoughts, Victor rushed to the mirror, straightened his hair, brushed some of the remaining dust off his coat and ran out of the room, slamming the door hastily behind him. His face was pale and filled with worry and there was something about it that made you believe he was feeling indescribably sick as he hurried down the stairs two at a time. His parents, Nell and William Van Dort were waiting impatiently in the old, sleek, black carriage outside, his mother fanning herself impatiently as he slumped down on the bench opposite them. His father gave Victor a small grin and looked out of the window, leaning on his gold topped cane but Victor couldn't help but wince slightly as the carriage started moving down the square, coming closer and closer to what he was so dreading. _

_Victor had known for quite some time that he was to pass his piano decree soon this year but he had never given it much thought. As a result, the news of the exact date had come shockingly unexpected when his tutor, Mr. Carter, had informed him last week. His mother had always wanted him to someday perform in front of the committee in London to make her proud of her otherwise clumsy and timid son, failing to respect what an immensely difficult task this would be for him. But then again, Nell Van Dort, it seemed to Victor, failed to notice a lot about him. She knew that he was clumsy; for he proved this often enough, but she never really considered that it was because of his constant nervousness and worry to do something wrong that this irritating habit had actually developed. Victor had tried hard to convince his mother that he wasn't capable of performing and that all he wanted was to play piano well and to himself but his mother was not a lady who liked discussions, especially if they weren't going the way she wanted them to. So he had finally given up, reluctantly, but definitely. "If only the same thing could be said for my nerves…" Victor thought._

_Observing the by passing country scenery tensely from out of the window, Victor recalled how disastrous the last practise with his tutor had went. Normally, Victor was quite relaxed around Mr. Carter and enjoyed their lessons together, for the many years he had been taught by him had taken away a lot of the uneasy formality between the two. But on this recent occasion Victor had been terribly jittery and had managed to hit more jagged notes than correct ones on the piano as well letting his foot slip from the pedal, causing it to ring through the dining room with a deafening thud. _

"_Looks like the nerves are getting the better of you, Victor…" Mr. Carter had chuckled, closing the lid of the piano and turning around to look at him._

"_I…well…I don't think I can do this…" he had mumbled, looking down at his hands._

_Despite blushing furiously, Victor had been glad that his tutor apparently knew how he felt and tried to calm him slightly. _

"_Listen," he said, tapping Victor on the shoulder gently to get his attention. "I know how it feels, but it's no use being nervous, even if those committee members really are dreadfully stuck up. But you have to learn to deal with it." _

_After a slight pause, he, to Victor's slight surprise, had stood up and gathered his things to leave. "I think it's best if you just take a rest for a while. Get some sleep and relax. You seem to know your pieces very well. Just do a little easy practise tomorrow and pull your piece through as if you were sitting alone with me when you go to your decree. That's the only thing that helps." And after he had given Victor a warming smile and a slight shake by the shoulder he had added: _

"_Anyway, I'll be there when you come out."_

_Victor sighed and focused his gaze back to the inside of the carriage as he noticed it jostling to a halt. _

"_Ah, looks like we're here…" His father stood up and opened the door, letting his wife out and leaving Victor still sitting quite forlornly at the back, not certain if he should step out at all. _

"_Well, Victor, what are you dreaming about?" Nell snapped, finally having heaved herself out onto the street. "Get out, we cannot afford for you to –" Nell broke off in order to hit her umbrella against the carriage as their smoking driver Mayhew let out a series of deep, loud coughs after taking a puff from his pipe. "And silence that infernal coughing!"_

_Victor rolled his eyes as he stepped out into the cobbled street and followed his parents up the stairs of a large, dominant building. His mother had a strong dislike for their driver and saw it as a personal mortification to her when he coughed like that, unlike so many other things. As William went to the doorbell and pulled it down, Victor took his notes out for one last time and scanned them hastily. His mother took one last look at her son and without warning started to tug around at his suit, straighten his silk tie and the single lock of hair which always hung down into his face and finally ripping the precious but worn piece of paper out of his hands._

"_For Goodness sake, boy, get rid of that old scrap, it looks disgraceful!" And with that, she flung it to the side carelessly. _

_Victor gaped. "M-mother! Those were my—"_

"_Don't slouch like that! She interrupted quickly, just as the door was opened by a bored but incredibly formal looking man._

"_Yes…?"_

"_Ah, good day, old chap…um…we are here for the examination." His father took off his hat and nudged to Victor cheerfully "…My son here has to pass his decree."_

"_Ah, yes…do come in." The butler scuttled forward leading them through a wide, empty hall. Victor stopped to stare in wonder at the magnificent, glistening chandelier hanging down from the ceiling before following his parents up a flight of grand stairs and to a set of large, oak doors. "Your son will be expected now." He motioned toward a door to the right. "If you were to take a seat in the next room and wait, you will meet the committee when the examination has ended."_

_Victor swallowed hard, and almost reflexively, his hands wondered up to his tie and started to twist around at it neurotically. He thought of the piece he was about to perform and suddenly felt and ice cold panic rise inside him as his mind went mercilessly blank. _

"_Thank you very much!" His father said and the butler walked down the stairs again, leaving the three of them alone in the otherwise abandoned and hushed corridor. _

"_Well, my boy, good luck!" Victor reeled as he realised how unaware his father was of how lost he felt. His mother's eyes though narrowed and she roughly hit her fan on Victor's hands, causing him to drop them guiltily away from his now crumpled and crinkled tie. _

"_Victor!"_

_Two tinges of red appeared on his otherwise deathly pale face as he fidgeted with his hands behind his back instead. His mother's expression softened and she gave him a little push towards the large doors. "Go on then, you'll be fine."_

_Victor nodded forcefully, even though every nerve in his body was shouting No in desperate protest. His hands ran through his hair fleetingly before he touched the doorknob shakily. As his parents disappeared into the next door, he opened it slowly._

_The room he walked into was quite small, with nothing else but a large, grand piano in the middle and a table with a group of very bored and stern looking gentlemen seated next to each-other at the other end. Their cold eyes seemed to bore into Victor's face and he sensed himself going red again. _

"_Master Van Dort, I presume…?" Said one of the men to the far left, holding a feathered quill in one hand._

"_Y-yes…."_

"_Welcome to the final piano decree. Please proceed to the piano and kindly play the piece assigned to you by your tutor."_

_Victor nodded silently and walked weirdly to the piano. His long legs seemed to have just turned to lead. Each step he took to the piano was harder than the other and there was a dominant humming in his ears, numbing them completely. The stares of the examiners bored deeper into him and he felt like he was sinking into the soft carpet floor. _

"_Oh…" Victor suddenly felt he room spinning uncontrollably a few seconds before he sensed himself falling backwards towards the floor. Just as his head hit the carpeted floor, everything around him turned to a colourful swirl before plunging into devouring darkness._

_Somewhere far away Victor could sense his mother talking heatedly. But the words were groggy and he understood only fragments of the chopped conversation._

"_Don't know WHAT went wrong with him…I realised he was a little pale but….I mean really…."_

"_Well…Mrs. Van Dort, it definitely isn't the first time someone did THAT here, I can assure you… I've seen worse cases in my day…too much tension…too much for most actually…_

_Victor's head was swimming with confusion and dizziness. Thinking back on what had happened was all a blur as his senses started to slowly dissolve back into him. He was laying on a large sofa in a small, but cosy room, with the door closed, the voices seeping through it, his vision sharpening vainly. There was a wet cloth on his forehead and he shuddered at the dampness. His whole body was prickling with pins and needles and everything felt uncomfortably numb. Slowly, he raised himself from the pillow and leaned against the armrest of the sofa as the whole events leading up to his unconsciousness started to come flooding back. The examination….the piano…his decree…_

_Victor groaned and slumped back on the sofa. "You pathetic ninny…." he thought, chastising himself. "You useless, cowardly, good for nothing ninny…" _

_Victor sensed the door being opened careful and saw his father peek in worriedly. "Victor!" he said, rushing into the room, _

"_You're awake!" But he was roughly pushed aside by his wife as she huffed into the room, closely followed by Victor's tutor, running his hand through his hair worriedly._

"_Goodness boy, are you alright!" His mother stomped over to the sofa hurriedly. "Why I really ought to--…what are you doing sitting up?" she exclaimed forcing Victor back down onto the pillow quickly._

_Victor, still weak from the excitement, cowered back down and bit his lip frightfully. His mother was clearly angry with him for yet another one of his fantastic performances and he was not prepared to take any chances. _

"_I…I'm sorry Mother…I…"_

_Nell's face softened as she saw his pale face gaze up at her anxiously. "Oh for Goodness sake!" she flung her arms around him and gave him a tight embrace._

"_You had me worried, Victor!"_

_His father chuckled and sat down, patting Victor's knees. "Looks like you weren't ready for this after all, eh?"_

_Victor nodded solemnly. "I… messed up my decree, didn't I…?"_

"_Well that you most certainly did!" his mother cut in sharply. "But in God's name don't worry about that now! The examiners were in a craze about you fainting right there and then!"_

"_You can always do it some other time." Mr. Carter cut in, walking over to the sofa and smiling down at Victor. "Once you've got your nerves. Every other has the same problem. I've seen similar before. Don't you worry. We'll take it easy next time."_

_Victor smiled weakly. Things weren't so bad after all. He had mortified himself and probably his parents in front of the committee as he had feared in the first place, but things could have been worse. After all, the decree had never been important to him and for the first time he and thankfully his mother knew that he wasn't the only one to have reacted that drastically. He would have to go through this again, but that wasn't worth dwelling on for now. All he wanted to think of at the moment was how he was looking forward to going back home, to play on his piano peacefully and without a care in the world. _

_Well…not for now anyway._


End file.
